There really isn’t much of anything directors can do with the vampire sub-genre anymore and that’s been a given for horror geeks for a long time. I’m repellent to any and all vampire fang films that come to the forefront and I’ve made it a rule to carefully dissect most fang films after constant turkeys passed my way. Thankfully “Let the Right One In” isn’t your average vampire movie. And while it’s trite to make such a declaration the truth remains: “Let the Right One In” is a different vampire film and one I loved with every aching horror geek bone inside me.
Tag Archives: Foreign
NinjaTown: Adventures of the Wee Ninja Volume 1
“Ninjatown” is almost exactly like Mr. Men, except that the Mr. Men here are all ninjas, and their enemies are Zombie Ninjas and Wee Devil’s, hand shape monsters who invent devious schemes like destroying the Ninjatown with giant Waffles. Si, giant waffles! “Ninjatown” has no dialogue, no story, no arc, and almost no mythos, and I was able to read the entire 46 pages (or volume 1, as it were) in fifteen minutes.
CJ7 (2008)
I’d like to tell you that “CJ7” is Stephen Chow’s answer to “E.T.” but as we all have come to know, Chow would never be about providing ordinary kids entertainment that we’ve seen before. “CJ7” may have the same formula when you get down to it, but Chow gives his own spin on it and it works. It’s a healthy dose of menace, adult edge, and over the top fantasy that has become a dead art in family films and director Chow takes every chance to flex those elements with his own take on the boy meets alien tale. On the flipside, Chow also tries to tell a genuinely emotional tale about a poor down on their luck and father and son struggling to get by living in a junk yard and eating day old food, while character Dickey’s dad always tries to teach him about life and how there are simply no short cuts. Especially when you’re poor.
Cannibal Ferox (1981)
Watching Ruggero Deodato’s “Cannibal Holocaust” was an experience that I still remember with fondness. I sat with the DVD in hand at my television with a pit in my stomach and prepared to finally view what is considered one of the most controversial and taboo films ever made. And I wasn’t disappointed. Watching “Cannibal Ferox” was a different experience altogether. Maybe it was because the movie is not as good as the aforementioned horror film, or maybe it’s because Umberto Lenzi approaches this horror flick from a sexploitation angle with sensual women ravaged by cannibals instead of the mock documentary style as Deodato’s film.
Inside (À l'intérieur) (2007)
I don’t think I can named a modern horror film that’s come so close to classic Giallo as “Inside” has, and I don’t think you’ll really want to if you didn’t like “Inside.” Frankly, it’s one of the most vicious and cringe inducing horror thrillers made in years, and the fact it wasn’t given even a limited theatrical release, fills me with a thousand frowns and dark sunsets. Having kids is tough. It’s financially trying, stressful, and traumatizing. Especially when there’s a psychotic unstoppable killer who wants to tear it out of your stomach. “Inside” is a vicious slasher flick from minute one where we meet Sarah who has just had a car crash pretty much almost killing her baby, and that’s only a small moment of the torture this unborn child experiences, when Sarah goes on vacation to mourn her dead husband.
The Devil's Music (2008)
I’ve been interested in much of what Jinx Media has supplied horror geeks over the last few years. Say what you want about independent horror movies, but there are studios out there trying for originality, and Jinx Media seems to be accomplishing it for the most part. First there was “Killer Killer,” which I found to be an utter blast, and now the UK based studio brings “The Devil’s Music.” Pat Higgins’ mock documentary, a film that will completely bring down audiences guards presuming to be one thing and then progressively transforms into a horror movie. Surely, it’s one of the finest indies of 2008, with production values that are immaculate. Everything from the mock concert performances, to the talk show interviews is shockingly genuine, and the story of Erika Spawn is even better.
Garto (2007)
Worthy of Pixar, Luis Gomez Guzman’s film “Garto” is such a wonderful bit of simplistic conflict, and minute adventure that it’s hard not to love it thoroughly. “Garto” is a mostly silent short computer animated comedy revolving around a green lizard named Garto who is so bored, he decides riding on the back of a passing oversized Bee will be fun. The problem is that the bee is not letting him grab a ride, and Garto will not relent in his mission for some fun.